Cruisers on home soil but isolated

THE Australians evacuated from a cruise ship off Japan are now in quarantine in the workers’ village near Darwin that will be their home for the next fortnight.

The group of about 170 people had already been quarantined on the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess in Yokohama for two weeks, effectively leaving them confined for almost a month.

Some 180 citizens and permanent residents had taken up the Federal Government’s offer of a seat on the special Qantas evacuation flight that left Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in the early hours yesterday.

But 10 were told they could not leave because they had tested positive to Covid-19.

Another 15 had already chosen to stay behind in Japan to be near family members who have been hospitalised after contracting the virus.

Two passengers on the Diamond Princess have died, Japanese media reported yesterday.

The Australians, who are mostly aged 60-plus with some over 80, were screened for symptoms of the virus five times before being taken to the former Inpex camp at Howard Springs, 30km southeast of

Darwin.

They will also be tested daily during the quarantine and looked after for other health concerns, both physical and psychological, given the group’s extended period in isolation.

The facility has been modified in recent days to cater for the older age of the group.

The cruise ship evacuees will be kept separate from the 266 people already in quarantine at Howard Springs who were evacuated earlier this month from the epicentre of the virus at Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province. They will leave on Sunday.

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus on the ship, which was carrying 3700 passengers and crew, has topped 620 and includes 36 Australians, all of whom are stable.

Australia’s deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly said while the ship’s quarantine methods had worked to stop the virus spreading onshore, there had been a recent spike in cases onboard.

Australia is expected to extend its China travel ban for another week amid fears about the spread of the virus.